I've opted to start off on 1600 calories per day and counting hasn't bothered me so far I used the myfitnesspal app on my phone and at the end of the day filling in the the printout sheet has been motivating filling in the goals each day . I unfortunately went over last night as decided to have a couple of cans of beer and some peanut crunch I have counted everything an for the day had 2000 calories I'm disappointed but pleased at the same time because this is considerably less amount of food I would scoff watching a film on a Friday night.

Has anyone else started with a higher calorie goal than recommend I'm aiming to reduce it after a few week's has this worked for others ?

2 Replies

If you pop over to the weight loss forum there are lots of threads about the importance of eating enough and not cutting back too far 😊 There is a link to help you calculate you metabolic rate (BMR) and daily calorie target 😊

Although you may be disappointed that you’d gone beyond the daily figure in which you’d opted to start upon, 1600Kcal may be too low an amount in order to satisfy your BMR.

Equally, it may also be too high.

In either event, you’ll struggle to attain the level of loss you no doubt desire, since the optimum energy balance (between calories consumed/expended) isn’t being achieved.

As suggested by Anna61, I’d also recommend that you research BMR calculators, since they’re largely accurate in determining how many daily calories are required to satisfy it, based upon current measurements (age/weight/height).

Most importantly, never introduce a daily calorie deficit from your BMR, since the figure represents how many calories are needed by the body to maintain existence in its resting state. Instead, allow excess calories (stored in existing body fat) to be burned on a daily basis, in order to meet your daily endeavour (known as TDEE).

In doing so, weight will be lost on a weekly basis.

The greater the intensity of your daily endeavour, the more weight you’ll lose (hence why HIIT has become popular as a means of assisting weight loss in recent years).

If you do decide to calculate BMR, bear in mind that as weight is lost (since the body will weigh less), you’ll need to re-evaluate how many calories are needed to satisfy it to reduce the risk of a plateau, re-evaluating with every 7lbs lost.